Grand Duchy of Moscow

The Grand Duchy of Moscow (1283-1547) or Grand Principality of Muscovy was a late Kievan Rus principality centered around Moscow. It expanded to conquer its neighbors, and in 1547 it became the Russian Empire.

History
The Grand Duchy of Moscow was founded by Daniel I of Moscow, who became the Grand Duke in 1283. He went on to absorb the Duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal in the 1320s, and by 1485 it included Novgorod and the Grand Duchy of Tver. In 1480, King Ivan III of Russia overthrew the "Tatar Yoke" of the Golden Horde (Mongol Empire), and by the end of his rule in 1503 he tripled Moscow's original lands, campaigning against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. He married Sophia Palailogina, the niece of the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire, securing Russia as the "third Rome". In 1512, Muscovy took Smolensk from Lithuania, and in 1547 Ivan the Terrible took the title of "Tsar".